The wing struts are made of 0.032" music wire soldered together and painted. They are heavy and fragile but I like the look. They take away some of the dihedral so the plane is not as stable as when I remove them.

If you take a peek at North_of_49's blog (click on his user name) he used CF rod (.020" i think). He claims is very light.

I actually used part of your battery suggestion on my mod. The difference is the shrink tube sleeve is replaced by the rubber band (see the middle pic on previous post. Thanks for the tip, it works great.

This is what I do with my Champ to save the paint when I need to open the fuselage. I make a tab on the back of the removable part of the fuselage to hold the pieces together at the back end and use a strap to hold the front together. This way I can open the fuselage repeatedly without tearing off paint.

I also added a battery cover as you can see in the middle pic just to make it look better.

Ahh I was not fully awake when I read and viewed.

Awesome job. Packing tape and a tab and slot I see it now. Great job will try to do that I'm my other champ

@North Are you still not impressed yet OR are you still fumbling with magnets Sorry could not resist

Mike.

I just finally found my mini magnets on the seat of my car under some crap (not literally) that's been sitting on the passenger seat forever ... still going to do this mod though. Just haven't had time for the Champ... it's on my "to do" list along with either repairing my cracked in half fuse or transfering all my current mods over to a new fuse, but not until after modding my RC truck and buggy with lights/brake lights and then finishing my bushwheels for my Super Cub and maidening it. Unfortunately, since I've put that stuff off for so long now, I probably won't get to run (maiden) my floats on water on either plane until next spring as temps are dropping and any water will be frozen soon... but I can still run them on snow

If you take a peek at North_of_49's blog (click on his user name) he used CF rod (.020" i think). He claims is very light.

Mike.

Yeah, my tail wire braces (flying wires) are the CF and won't even register on my scale. The main wing struts are styrene from my LHS's model building section (half rounds). They're more aesthetic than functional but they do function to a point. They're designed to break away if enough force is applied to them (crashing)

I'm buying my first RC plane and I've decided on the champ. For now I've decided to keep everything stock except for the battery, which I plan to upgrade because I'm hoping to achieve longer flying times.

Can someone please tell me what the technical name of the Champ battery connector type is? Is it JST-XH, or Ultra Micro, or something else? In my naivety I can't seem to find a definitive answer, as it seems this is just one of those things it's assumed you already know.

I'm buying my first RC plane and I've decided on the champ. For now I've decided to keep everything stock except for the battery, which I plan to upgrade because I'm hoping to achieve longer flying times.

Can someone please tell me what the technical name of the Champ battery connector type is? Is it JST-XH, or Ultra Micro, or something else? In my naivety I can't seem to find a definitive answer, as it seems this is just one of those things it's assumed you already know.

You will love your new Champ. If you've ever flown helis, just go easy on the sticks. No stick banging...lol. Have fun..

Mike.

Hello Mike,

Thanks very much for your reply, and for confirming the compatbility of the Miniaviation battery. At your suggestion I've also taken note of the battery plug you linked to.

I have never flown an RC helicopter, but I have had some experience with RC planes, so I've at least learned to only use as much of the control surfaces as is necessary to execute the desired manoeuvre.

One final clarification if I may: the Miniaviation 190mAh 25c webpage I linked to specifies that the "Balance & Discharge Plug" is of the type "JST-XH". If this battery is in fact compatible with the Champ, does this mean the Champ uses JST-XH plug?

(Sorry if I'm being really obtuse, but how can the Miniaviation batteries be plug-in-and-play compatible with the Champ if they use "JST-XH" connectors and not Ultra Micro? Is it possible the Miniaviation page should say Ultra Micro instead?)

(Sorry if I'm being really obtuse, but how can the Miniaviation batteries be plug-in-and-play compatible with the Champ if they use "JST-XH" connectors and not Ultra Micro? Is it possible the Miniaviation page should say Ultra Micro instead?)

Don't worry. The Miniaviation batts will fit just fine in the Champ. I plan to buy some of these when my Thunder Power crap the bed. But they are still somewhat new